Today, Islamic Republic media have allocated most of their time to Khamenei’s speech where he did not mention anything about coronavirus or COVID-19 victims caused by him banning US and UK made vaccines. In the meantime, the regime’s Health Minister claimed the fourth peak is passed despite the UK variant creating a big problem for the healthcare system. Saeed Namaki asserted, “we are in the downward slope of the fourth peaks!” National Task Force Spokesman had made the same assertions yesterday, contrary to local reports.
Provincial officials report the opposite of Namaki’s claim for today as well. Hamedan has not seen any significant decrease in hospitalizations. Alborz authorities say the province is still at the peak. Hormozgan Governor said coronavirus cases are still on the rise and compliance with health protocols has only reached 60%! Semnan is on the verge of “black” status with more than 400 daily cases. Fars reports being in the peak as well.
According to Ministry of Health undercounted data, Tehran has experienced 40.5% rise in COVID-19 deaths, 18% in hospitalizations and 32% in outpatients, from last week. And Qazvin officials confirm 2 other Indian nationals (in addition to previous cases in Bushehr and Hormozgan) have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and sequencing to identify their variant is in process. Head of Abadan Medical College called the coloring of the cities done by Ministry of Health to show “high risk” areas, “worthless.” Dr. Salmanzadeh said as long as mutated strains are spreading in the country, everywhere is critical. He added, the infection rate is high in all cities and there is no real criteria for these “color plays.”
COVID-19 vaccination mystery and chaos continues in Iran. National Task Force Spokesman claimed mass vaccination will begin by late September – October, covering 40million people in the fourth phase of National Vaccination Guideline. Raisi said by that time, 12-14 million people will be vaccinated! He did not offer details on how this would be achieved considering there is no reliable source of shots available. Dr. Raisi also asserted even though Iran was a later starter, “we will complete the process earlier than other countries.” It is worth noting, even the first phase covering the healthcare staff has not finished.
According to official statistics, since February 9, only 218,631 (0.26% of population) have been fully vaccinated and 1,175,054 doses have been administered.
Corruption in the COVID-19 vaccination has reached a new level! Tehran Mayor confirmed in addition to District 6 scandal, Districts 7 and 9 had the same mess. He also admitted there has been no guideline for vaccination in the capital and promised it would be released as soon as possible! A member of Tehran City Council revealed 10 of the 22 Districts in Tehran have not received a single shot yet! Zahra Sadrazadm-Nouri also provided a shocking number. She stated, of about 55,000 municipality employees eligible for vaccination only 2,248 (4%) have been given a jab so far!
Meanwhile, Red Crescent Society Spokesman announced 1million doses of Sinopharm have arrived in Iran, today. He boasted the society has paid for them and will deliver these to the Ministry of Health for distribution and use. In the meantime, the first shipment of vaccines imported by private companies will be arriving by the last week of May. Naser Riahi tentatively said, the shipment would probably include 100,000 doses of AstraZeneca produced in India. Head of Drug Importers Union “hoped” the Ministry of Health would take responsibility for distribution and use of these shots. He mentioned the price for each dose of AstraZeneca to be $5-6 and $11-12 for each Sputnik V imported by the Union. Islamic Republic officials have insisted the vaccination would be free for everybody!
Ministry of Health Spokesperson claimed 394 died of COVID-19 in Iran in the past 24 hours while 18,698 tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The Ministry has not provided any sequencing information for weeks. Even officials have admitted the real numbers are at least 3 times higher. Active and critical cases continue to rise as seen on the graphs.
R0: 3.80
Total: 2,534,855 (+18,698)
Dead: 72,484 (+394)
Recovered: 1,988,165
Critical: 5,443 (+22)
Active Cases: 474,206 (+1,203)
Tests: 16,101,399 (19.1% of the population, assuming each test was performed on 1 person)
Cover: Mohammad Mohsenzadeh – Healthcare staff in a hospital in Qom try to heal a COVID-19 patient by Quran in Ramadan’s Qadr night ritual.
